Only to correct a misnomer.....there is no argument, it is the finest semi-auto handgun ever designed....

The triggers are what makes them great ...they are not hinged ( so they don't swing thru an arc )...the trigger moves straight back and forth inside the frame....and when properly fit - they have no creep and no slack / and break like "glass"....

Like AZAK said, a 1911 is a firearm based off of John Browning's original design that was adopted by the US military in 1911.

The patents for the overall design expired long ago, so many companies make them now. Some are more traditional, some have more modern features, but they're all directly derived from John Browning's original design.

The problem is, "1911" is EXTREMELY in-exact, so there's no way to tell you exactly what it is.
It would be sort of like saying, "What exactly is a car?" I could tell you it's a motorized vehicle, but even some things that would normally be assumed, such as four wheels, two of which are driven by an internal combustion engine, etc., don't really apply, anymore.
"1911" has really come to mean a gun with a certain appearance, but nothing in particular can be assumed about materials, chambering, capacity, specifications, etc., based only on "1911".
The only two "1911s" about which there is anything exact are the M1911 and the M1911A1. You can find drawings with materials, dimensions, heat-treat specs, etc. Everything else is a crap-shoot.

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